CHAPTER 23
MISSION: IMPROBABLE
A
s any CIA officer will tell you, the key to securely achieving solid
results in a foreign land, whether in benign or hostile environments, is
recruiting trusted local agents who do most of the “heavy lifting.” Whether
the objective is to influence events or simply to report on what’s actually
happening on the ground, rarely if ever can a CIA officer accomplish
much of value overseas on his or her own. The same held true for me in
my post-CIA life. I knew I could not just show up in Baghdad, where I
did not even speak the language, and expect to survive, much less succeed
with a new business venture. I needed a vetted Iraqi partner with the right
access, background, and connections.
With almost zero Iraq experience under my belt, how would I go about
finding such a partner? I immediately turned to my informal network of
fellow former CIA officers. Between us we covered the world. More impor-
tantly, we were connected by unspoken bonds of trust, based on years of
shared training and overseas experience. If anyone needed anything done
in the Balkans, for example, they reached out to me for help. Other CIA
alumni covered Asia, Africa, and Latin America, some specializing in a
single difficult country, like China or Russia. For Iraq, I called on my old
friend and colleague “Dan,” a Middle East expert who had successfully
run Iraqi agents inside Saddam’s regime. Among other things, Dan was an
Arabist who continued to enjoy unparalleled access, influence, and respect
in Iraq and throughout the Middle East. He readily and graciously agreed
to assist.
After giving it some thought, Dan recommended I partner with a wealthy
and important Sunni tribal sheik from Ramadi, the capital of Anbar prov-
ince. “Imad” was a prominent leader of the Dulaimi tribe, the largest in Iraq.
The Dulaimi had been in the region for centuries, long before present-day215